Factoid 'o the day: "makers" on steroids
by digby
From Doug Henwood, on the top hedge fund earners:
In 2012, the top 20 hedgies collectively earned $14.14 billion in 2012. That’s the lowest since 2008, but down only 2% from 2011. It is also equivalent to the collective income of 1.3 million of the poorer households in the U.S.
He also asks the important question about just what it is these guys really contribute to the economy. The answer: profits to their rich investors. That's it.
But lest you think they aren't civic minded citizens doing their best to pay it forward, there's this:
At the top of the list was David Tepper, who made $2.2 billion last year. Tepper, you might be surprised to learn, said a couple of years ago that he was “tired of making money” and wanted to start giving it away. Less surprisingly, Tepper wants to put some of it to work kicking around teachers’ unions and promoting charter schools and vouchers (“Hedge fund manager readies for battle with NJEA to reform NJ schools”). In second place, Ray Dalio at $1.7 billion, less than half what he made as 2011’s #1. Dalio is best known for doing transcendental meditation, and also for cultivating a brutal, chilly, even cult-like atmosphere at his firm, Bridgewater Associates (The Billion-Dollar Aphorisms of Hedge Fund Cult Leader Ray Dalio). Together, Tepper and Dalio earned as must as almost 350,000 poorer households.
This just proves that most of our society's wealth is in good hands. Don't worry your pretty little heads about it. They've got it under control.
.